pontificate
the office or term of office of a pontiff.
to perform the office or duties of a pontiff.
to speak in a pompous or dogmatic manner: Did he pontificate about the responsibilities of a good citizen?
to serve as a bishop, especially in a Pontifical Mass.
Origin of pontificate
1Other words from pontificate
- pon·tif·i·ca·tion [pon-tif-i-key-shuhn], /pɒnˌtɪf ɪˈkeɪ ʃən/, noun
- pon·tif·i·ca·tor, noun
Words Nearby pontificate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pontificate in a sentence
In the wake of Francis’s surgery, Alberto Melloni, a church historian, argued that this pontificate has entered a concluding chapter, where he will have to make decisions about the final things he might want to prioritize.
Pope Francis’s surgery adds urgency to questions about the remaining years of his papacy | Chico Harlan, Stefano Pitrelli | July 9, 2021 | Washington PostBut of course, there is the now fading memory of the election that followed the long pontificate of Pius XII.
Benedict may well want to cut short the time available for the cardinals to politick, posture, and pontificate, as it were.
With Pope Benedict XVI’s Retirement, Conclave Rules Prove Unclear | Christopher Dickey | February 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe deficit hawks pontificate on camera while in the wings the tradesmen of the Congress fill districts with holiday cheer.
The pope of Rome sent him a full set of all the medals struck during his pontificate.
Historic Fredericksburg | John T. Goolrick
Cossa kept his word never to appeal against the sentence which stripped him of the pontificate.
His cosmography, like all of them, began with the creation and came down to the pontificate of Martin V who was then Pope.
The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 (of 2) | Anatole FranceLuther attacked not the abuses of the Roman pontificate, but the pontificate itself.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol 2 | J. H. Merle D'AubignFerdinando de Medici, then a cardinal, had just failed in his candidacy for the pontificate (outwitted by that fox Montalto).
Romance of Roman Villas | Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney
British Dictionary definitions for pontificate
to speak or behave in a pompous or dogmatic manner: Also (less commonly): pontify (ˈpɒntɪˌfaɪ)
to serve or officiate as a pontiff, esp in celebrating a Pontifical Mass
the office or term of office of a pontiff, now usually the pope
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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